An Introduction to America’s Music

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

208 PART 2 | FROM THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH WORLD WAR I


Second, an oral tradition of music is very different from music as it is preserved
in transcriptions (performances “dictated” to a transcriber, who writes them
down using music notation) and phonograph recordings. Writing and recording
allow music that once existed only in live performance to be heard in other con-
texts, repeated as desired, and studied. But once a song is fi xed in writing or on
record, it takes on a permanent identity that it may never have enjoyed in perfor-
mance. Emerging here is a phenomenon that will be a major theme of America’s
music in the twentieth and twenty-fi rst centuries: the impact of recording tech-
nology on how listeners perceive music and, as a result, how musicians create it.
Third, until the late 1800s almost all of outsiders’ knowledge about Indian
music was fi ltered through the observations of people for whom it was a foreign
mode of expression. When later scholars use those observations as the basis for
secondary research, the possibility of introducing further distortions is all too
real. With these caveats in mind, however, a great deal of valuable information
can be gleaned from the work of the early preservationists.

EARLY WRITERS ON AMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC


The nineteenth century saw a signifi cant increase in the quantity and quality of
American Indian ethnography: writings about all aspects of Indian cultures. In
the fi rst half of the century the best writings are either by Indians themselves
or by whites who enjoyed prolonged contact with them. The second half of the
century witnessed two diverging treatments of Indian life: on the one hand,
sensational and distorted portrayals presented in popular culture, and on the
other hand, the more substantive work of scholars who brought anthropological
methods to the study of music.
In 1822 Lewis Cass, governor of the Michigan Territory, quoted a Miami Indian
song in an article on Native customs: “I will go and get my friends—I will go and
get my friends—I am anxious to see my enemies. A clear sky is my friend, and it is
him I am seeking.” Aware that these words bore little resemblance to any song his
readers would know, Cass explained how they were sung. His account squares
with what we now know to be common Indian practices. The song has a spec -
ifi c purpose: to recruit volunteers for a mission of war. The text’s brevity does
not mean that the performance
was short; Indians were known to
repeat bits of text and music many
times. Vocables (nonsemantic sylla-
bles) were also common, as was the
song’s use of a natural image—the
sky, personifi ed as a friend—rather
than a narrative or literal descrip-
tion. Finally, Cass was struck by the
unusual sound of the singing and
attempted to describe it.
One observer who achieved close,
sustained contact with Indian peo-
ples was Henry Rowe Schoolcraft,
who in 1823 married Jane Johnston,
the mixed-blood granddaughter of

Lewis Cass Describes a Miami Indian
Song, 1822

T


here is a strong expiration of the breath at the commencement
of each sentence, and a sudden elevation of the voice at the
termination. The Chief, as he passes, looks every person sternly
in the face. Those who are disposed to join the expedition exclaim
Ye h , Ye h , Ye h , with a powerful tone of voice; and this exclamation
is continually repeated during the whole ceremony. It is, if I may so
speak, the evidence of their enlistment. Those who are silent decline
the invitation.

In their own words


distortions in
transcription

non-native
perceptions

Lewis Cass

172028_09_205-230_r3_ko.indd 208 23/01/13 11:28 AM

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